Darryn Peterson’s bizarre injuries at Kansas, explained as best we can

Darryn Peterson was supposed to be the best of a loaded freshmen class in men’s college basketball this season. Instead, the Kansas Jayhawks guard has spent his one-and-one year battling several lingering ailments that have either kept him out of games entirely or limited his availability to just the first half. The program has been vague about exactly what Peterson is dealing with, and the situation is only getting weirder as March Madness approaches.

Peterson was in the lineup on Wednesday night against Oklahoma State, and put together a typically dominant showing when he was on the floor. The guard finished with 23 points in 18 minutes, but took himself out of the game early in the second half with Kansas up big in a game they would win easily. Here’s the moment where Peterson subbed himself out with 17:22 left in the second half after making a three-pointer that put Kansas up 13 points:

Peterson did not return, and Kansas won 81-69. The Jayhawks are 20-6 on the season, 10-3 in the Big 12, and entered this week at No. 8 in the polls.

After the game, Kansas coach Bill Self talked about Peterson’s exit and sounded as surprised as anyone else.

“We’ve had this happen more than a couple times,” Self said. “I didn’t anticipate that at all tonight. I thought he was good to go. We only got 18 minutes out of him. That’s disappointing because he could have had a really big night. It’s happened often enough that our guys have learned to play without him, even if that’s not the way we want to play.”

Self is as smooth as it gets among college basketball coaches, but you can hear the frustration in his voice. The head coach repeatedly called Peterson the best player he ever recruited leading up to the season. Peterson has been excellent when he’s been on the floor, averaging 43.8 points per 100 possessions on very efficient 62.8 percent true shooting. The issue is that he hasn’t been able to stay on the floor.

Kansas has played 26 this year. Peterson has played 15 of those games, but he’s only played 30+ minutes in six of them. The situation the Jayhawks found themselves in against Oklahoma State — Peterson playing outstanding basketball until he checked himself out early in the second half and didn’t return — has played out so many times this season.

Peterson has dealt with a hamstring strain, an ankle sprain, a quad injury, and constant cramping issues. As it’s happened, the star guard has earned a new nickname: D(n)P. What’s actually wrong with Peterson? Here’s what we know.

Darryn Peterson’s injury issues and cramping, explained

Peterson played the first two games of the year for Kansas in a win over Green Bay and a loss to North Carolina. Then he missed seven games with what the team called a hamstring injury. He made his return against rival Missouri on Dec. 7, and played 23 minutes in a blowout win. He only played six minutes in the second half, and was seen getting treatment on the bench throughout the game after halftime. Peterson played 31 minutes in a win over NC State in the next game, then missed the next two games against Towson and Davidson with what the team called cramps.

Peterson returned on Jan. 3 against UFC, scoring 26 points in 23 minutes, but he checked out for good with about 11 minutes left, and Kansas would go on to lose. Here’s how Bill Self explained it after that loss:

“Darryn—who I wanted to put on a minutes restriction, that’s what we had talked about…I really couldn’t do it in the first half and we paid for it in the second half because obviously his legs started bothering him again,” Self said. “So that was disappointing. We were going to do the minutes restriction around 24 minutes and he ended up playing about that but he played way too many in the first half. We were playing so poorly and he kept us in there.”

Things got even more strange in the next game against TCU. Peterson tried to check himself out late in the second half during a play, and it led to a Kansas turnover. The team would go on to win without him, but Peterson did check back in to make the game-tying free throws that sent the game to overtime.

Peterson has missed two games since: he was out Jan. 24 in a win over Kansas State with an ankle sprain, then missed the Feb. 9 game against No. 1 Arizona with flu-like symptoms after warming up. In another bizarre twist, a text from someone sitting courtside went viral that indicated Self told him to play if he was going to play, or otherwise sit. So he sat.

Self has stood up for his player all season to this point in the face of mounting criticism over his lack of availability. Here’s what he said after the Arizona game:

“I’ve read some of the narratives out there about (Peterson) and it’s really not remotely true. When you’re honest, people don’t believe you and when you don’t comment on it, people create their own narratives,” Self said Thursday. “Was his hamstring legit? Hell yes. Was his cramping legit? Yes. Did he turn his ankle bad? Yes… He’s had a string of bad luck. Those narratives are BS.”

Self summarized the situation saying Peterson was dealing with a “string of bad luck,” and continued here:

“The thing about it is, when you’re honest, people don’t believe you,” Self said. “And when you don’t comment on it, people create their own narratives. And you know what? I do the same thing about things I don’t know about: ‘Well, it must be this. It has to be that if they’re not going to talk about it.’”

While Peterson has scored extremely well all year, the injuries have sapped some areas of his game that shined in high school. Peterson looked like an elite defensive playmaker for an offensive star back when he was at Prolific Prep for his senior season. As a freshman, he’s posted a 2.6 percent steal rate and 2.2 percent block rate, which are passable numbers, but nowhere near where they were expected. Peterson also hasn’t been much of a playmaker, recording only 11 assists in 11 Big 12 games. He wasn’t expected to be a great facilitator entering the year, but his 12.6 percent assist rate is really low for a player of his caliber, and I would have thought that number would be 25-ish percent coming into the year.

Peterson just hasn’t had the same juice attacking the basket that he showed in high school. He’s only attempted 40 shots at the rim this season compared to 62 non-rim two-point attempts. His three-point volume was thought to be a concern entering the year, but instead he’s taken as many threes (102) as he has twos (102) to start this year.

Peterson has still been a deadly scorer because his shot-making is incredible. It’s easy to fantasize about him getting 100 percent physically, and then looking like the downhill demon and stout defender he was promised to be coming into school. That sounds great in theory, but it would be nice to see him actually play.

Darryn Peterson doesn’t need Kansas, but the NBA would still love to see him play

The 2026 NBA Draft is loaded with Peterson, Duke’s Cameron Boozer, and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa sitting at the top of the class. I’ve had Boozer ranked as the best player in the class from the start of the season, with Peterson at No. 2. It seems like NBA scouts are higher on Peterson than Boozer, and he’ll likely compete with Dybantsa to go No. 1 in June.

Peterson looks like some combination of Anthony Edwards and Devin Booker when he’s healthy. Many people have suggested there’s even some Kobe to his game:

The reality is we haven’t seen the best version of Peterson at Kansas yet. He was supposed to be a dominant rim scorer, a game-wrecking defender, and a solid playmaker. So far, he’s looked mostly like an efficient microwave scorer who doesn’t do much passing or defending. A team that takes Peterson in the top-three of the NBA Draft will want to know why he hasn’t looked as good as he did in high school this year, and that means he’ll have to explain his injuries.

Yes, this is an awesome draft class … but how many guys are you really taking over Peterson? Boozer and maybe Dybantsa, sure. But Caleb Wilson? Kingston Flemings? Keaton Wagler and Mikel Brown Jr.? The peak version of Peterson would push Boozer for the No. 1 player in the class in my eyes, but even this diminished version of him is still too enticing to pass on him for anyone else. I’m keeping him at No. 2 on my board, but it would be great to see him actually prove he can be durable.

Peterson could shut it down right now and still be a very high NBA draft pick, possibly No. 1 overall. If he really doesn’t want to play for Kansas anymore, he doesn’t have to. From the school’s perspective, just getting Peterson healthy for March is the biggest priority. Of course, he hasn’t been healthy all season, so it seems like a stretch that’s ever going to happen. Peterson can be the best player in March Madness if he wants to be, and if his body will allow it to happen. At this point, it seems foolish to expect his availability to significantly change before the end of the season.

Hamstring injuries are a lot scarier than they might sound. Scoot Henderson missed 51 games recovering from a hamstring injury this year. It’s easy to say Peterson should just tough it out and play through his issues, but it’s not as easy as it sounds.

Kansas needs Peterson more than Peterson needs Kansas. He’s still a lock to be a top-three pick in the NBA Draft regardless how he finishes this season. What NBA teams will really want is clarity on what’s actually wrong with Peterson, and that’s something no one has had all year. College basketball’s strangest story seems to get murkier every week, and there’s about to be more attention on it than ever before with March Madness only a few weeks away.